Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus, SANA – Head of Syrian-Armenian Business Council Leon Zaki called for speeding up efforts to have Syria join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), saying that this would allow Syria to develop its economic ties with states that make up nearly half the world’s population.
In a statement to SANA, Zaki stressed the need for active steps to join the SCO and follow the example of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and Nepal who are now dialogue partners with the SCO or Belarus which is now an observer state.
He said that the SCO and the BRICS are more than a ray of hope for correcting the world order and unilateral, unipolar policies; rather they represent an opportunity for Syria to emerge from the tunnel of the economic sanctions imposed on it.
Zaki also pointed out to the BRICS’ New Development Bank which was launched to fund infrastructure projects in member states and in developing countries, something which should help reduce the western states’ grip over global financial establishments.
Earlier in June, SCO Secretary General Dmitry Fyodorovich Mezentsev said that the Organizaiton welcomes Syria’s request to join it, and that the requests will be studied and processed according to SCO regulations.
SCO member states are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and the observer states are India, Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia, and Pakistan, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners.
Hazem Sabbagh
